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4 years at The Back Home Bakery

4 years at The Back Home Bakery

Hello Fresh Loafians, Yes, it's hard to believe, but July 28, 2012 marked our fourth anniversary as a successful bakery! Thanks to our very loyal customers, product consistency and quality, plus a lot of hard work, we've continued to grow.

I thought some of you might be interested in a bakery update from here, so below is a brief summary of our 2012 product line, where the income comes from, and my work schedule for the year.

During the busy season (detailed below), about 60% of our business comes from pastries (laminated doughs mostly) and 40% of it is in breads. We sell at two farmers' markets per week, one of them is a morning market, one is in the evening. The Saturday morning market is by far the busiest where we sell about 150 loaves of bread and 400 individual pastries. Everything is baked and packaged the morning of the market (between 2:00am and 7:00am) so timing is critical. We sell 6 different types of breads ranging from soft rolls to baguettes and 11 different pastries, from croissants and palmiers to peach turnovers and sticky buns.

If you've seen our '5 minutes at the Back Home Bakery' video featuring Paul, Sharon and I, you'll have an idea of what the end of our first farmers' market season looked like. Three years later, production has increased 60% without increasing the work hours (believe it or not, they've actually decreased as compared to year number 1 and 2).

As you can see in the schedule below, the income for the bakery comes from both wholesale accounts and selling directly to customers. Wholesale accounts consist of either stores/restaurants that buy my products directly or those that provide a space for me to sell my goods. The ones that buy directly from me receive a larger discount since I don't have to label their packaging and they provide consistent business. In the other stores that provide space for me, I choose the amount and type of bread that I will sell and hope that customers buy it. If the bread doesn't sell, I am stuck with old bread, if it sells, they pay the retailer and the retailer pays me pocketing some money for themselves. After a few years this has become very predictable and there is very little waste.

I sell directly to customers through farmers' markets (basically a six-month season) and special orders (holidays, parties...). Another option I offer year-round is Friday deliveries. I require a $10 minimum and the delivery must be 'en-route', plus it must fit my baking schedule. I have quite a few customers that take advantage of this in the off-season.

Here's an outline of how my 2012 work schedule goes for the year and from week to week.

The year is divided into 'the busy season' and 'the off season'.

The Busy Season runs from mid April to mid October. During the summertime, Sharon or an intern helps out: this is a typical work week Sunday: 9:00am to 6:00pm pastries and prep for the week Monday: 3:30am to 6:00pm wholesale breads, deliveries, pastries and prepTuesday: 3:30am to 8:00pm breads, pastries, and sales for night time farmers' marketWednesday: same as MondayThursday: 3:30am to 6:00pm laminating dough, more pastry prepFriday: 3:00am to 6:00pm wholesale breads, deliveries, and prep for SaturdaySaturday: 1:00am to 1:00pm farmers' market production and sales 5:00pm to 6:30pm clean-up and pastries prep

*on early morning wake-up days, I have a 1 hour nap after lunch

The Off-Season runs from mid-October to mid-April with of course holidays scattered here and there. For the last few years we've taken a one or two week vacation during spring break time. During that time, the bakery closes. This is a typical work week during the off-season.Sunday: offMonday: 3:30-1:30 wholesale breads, deliveries, and prepTuesday: offWednesday: same as MondayThursday: off or laminated doughs as necessaryFriday: same as MondaySaturday: off

During my off days I get a chance to do fun stuff like work on the house, try new recipes out, catch up on my emails, make videos, and plow the driveway of snow. Some things are more fun than others.

Anyway, that's about it from the Back Home Bakery in Kalispell, MT. Happy baking to everybody.

Well, my philosophy about the killer schedule is the following: If you really like baking, then doing more of it should be even better, right? Did Picasso complain about 'having to spend all of that time painting'? Possibly, but I'd like to think not. And yes I'm more than 'a bit' nutty.

Actually, I think the favorite pastry for the locals here are the ham and cheese croissants. Meat. Cheese. Butter. Who would've figured? I think if they were made with elk meat they would be even more popular.

No, not any Coupe practice in the schedule. I think those in charge of the team would put me in the category of 'those who need an attitude adjustment' :) It's mostly the same equipment although there is a new full size-proofer that I made and put in the corner by the left freezer. Basically it's much better organization and efficiency, plus I work faster. As the only intern (Thomas) from the first year to return said last year, "It seems like I'm always opening new bags of flour. But other than that I believe we worked harder last time..."

Or, my preferred view, "inspired laziness". It sounds like you have made a number of incremental adjustments that, together, yield a significant improvement. And, yes, practice improves skills and improved skills (often) lead to greater speed.

That's a lot better than my first impression from reading the schedule that you were getting softer as the years advance! ;-)

Maybe I should come back next year and work on my own skills some more.

No, I'm not getting softer as I get older, just perhaps more crotchety. Although I suppose some of that had set in already when you and Deb were here. Thanks for the congrats and if you and your better half are planning another long drive up to the Northwest, look me up.

I normally refrigerate my starter and during the off-season only build/feed it once or twice a week, depending on how much it's being used. For the past few vacations we've been fortunate enough to have past interns Greg, May, and Patrick house-sit while we were gone and they took care of the starter building for me.

Aah I remember 5:30am fondly the coffee is ready, the ugly baguette gets slobbered with real butter, the music gets turned on & for a few moments bakery bliss. Then mean old Mark snaps you back to reality & sends you into do the dishes.

A successful bakery, a successful baker & a great teacher. Congratulations.

It's only fair that the baker gets the ugliest baguette of the bunch right? It just wouldn't be right to sell that one to the customer, now would it?

Besides that, mean old me has to keep you humble by pointing out your worst work, cutting it open to point out evident mistakes, and then making you eat your ugly baguette just to drive the point home. Sound about right?

Thanks for the update. I have always enjoyed what you have shared here as well as on your site - especially your videos on shaping. I am so glad that your bakery is doing well. Sounds like a well oiled machine :-) Only thing I couldn't help but wonder about in your schedule was when doing dishes fits in......Are there magic gnomes in Kalispell that make them magically disappear If so, please send one this way. The pile of dishes that faces me at the end of my day in daunting :-O.

I'm glad you enjoy the shaping videos. Those are the ones I'm particularly proud of.

As far as I know, there are no magic gnomes in the area, especially those willing to do dishes. It might have something to do with the plethora of rednecks (myself not excluded) in the area. The dishes unfortunately are done whenever they can be done by either yours truly or my slave dujour.

Like you said, for the first year the bakery consumed my thoughts day and night for the entire year. I worked every single day and thought about my mistakes, ways to improve, and things I had done right. Now a few years later, I've become accustomed to the routine and am able to enjoy the customers, bread, and work schedule much more. Thanks for the congratulations.

Yes, that seems like many years ago since I made those first videos. I can see exactly what stage of the construction of our house we were in each one...let's see, in this video I avoid showing the unfinished floor... in that video zoom in really close to the mixer so you can't see that it's on the workbench next to my miter saw...

For our anniversary we had huckleberry cheesecake danishes at the farmers' market. Thanks for the congrats.

The run-down of the business was very insightful for me, even after having done one of your internships. I didn't realize that you do more in sales from pastries than from loaves.

For my business, even after just a year and a half, I too have noticed that I have a higher production but am working fewer hours, which really speaks to what experience can do for efficiency.

I get plenty of 'you're-a-bit-nutty-aren't-you?' looks when people find out how early I get up and the hours that I put in, so I think a bit of nuttiness is a pre-requisite for bakery work. I like the Picasso comparison you made and I think I'll use that in future explanations of why I work the way I do.

I can only hope that if/when my bakery reaches the 4 year point, it has come as far as yours has in the time. And that I have learned how to fit in daily naps by then.

It is kind of odd isn't it, that the question I am asked more than any other isn't actually bread related but instead, "What TIME do you have to get up in the morning?" When I spoke at a couple of high school career day presentations a few years ago one girl asked, "Do you have to get up at, like, 6 o'clock in the morning?" I thought that was quite funny.

I'm glad to hear that your baking is going along so well also. Some day when we make it down to Fort Collins we will definitely check it out your bakery.

Just a quick hello and congratulations. What an accomplishment and making it through the first few years is a real milestone. Hopefully one day I can say the same you are such an inspiration. Thanks and happy 4th birthday.
Faith

Like you, I bake for a living. And I love it. But man, those are some daunting hours you put in. So congratulations and I wish you a lot more success and equal amounts of happiness and satisfaction in what your hands produce and others relish and enjoy.

Jeff Hamelman has said that being a baker is hard work that provides not so much financial success (compared to other professions) but other rewards for those looking beyond the almighty dollar. You're the proof of the pudding!

Happy 4th year anniversary and keep going strong! Who would expect to have such high quality baguette and croissants at a local farmers market! (I know, you've mentioned that ham and cheese is the best seller but I can't stop praising your baguette). Your passion and work ethics have my utmost respect. Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge.

It's good to hear from you Michelle, and I hope you're keeping busy baking and making your soaps too. The baguettes are still my favorite too and of course as a result are my daily bread. Happy Baking.

Yes Eric, it's really 4 years. I'm not sure if it seems like yesterday or a very long time ago that I made my first appearance on TFL. Back then you, David, and MiniO and a few others were running the show and made it a comfortable place to chat about breads. Thanks for the support and for being one of those people that I could always bounce ideas off of whenever I had a question. Take it easy and take care.

You know that little voice in the back of my mind? You know, the one that whispers softly when I bake a very nice loaf, that possibly, maybe, one day, I could open a small, successful bakery? You know, the little voice that I barely listen to but sometimes I want to engage into a conversation with about quitting my current stressful business and going off into baking bread for a living?

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